Ed Richards for BBC director general? The early money has gone down on the Ofcom chief executive, say Ladbrokes, prompting the bookies to shorten his odds from 12-1 to 6-1 overnight. They report new accounts being opened up in London and the home counties, purely to punt on the regulator in chief. Nobody likes to go against the money, but can Richards really be a candidate? If so, he has to declare straight away: surely it is impossible for him to do his job objectively if he is in the running to be director general. And it would be impossible to keep the fact secret either. Perhaps the gamblers know something. Richards name crops up again and again among the cadre of speculators, and he has been chief of Ofcom since 2006. Anyway, Mr Richards, who has always been careful to get the process right, will no doubt keep us all informed.